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He won't give the players blank cheques, but Masai Ujiri would prefer to bring back all of his free agents.

The Raptors president and general manager made that quite clear at the season-wrapping availability on Tuesday at the ACC.

"As far as I'm concerned, keeping our core group going forward, with Kyle Lowry, Greivis Vasquez and (Patrick) Patterson and Nando (de Colo), those guys are priorities for us. And if you want to build, I think, a team where we have young players, we have to build continuity," Ujiri said.

Lowry, the star point guard who has a shot at making the All-NBA third team, is an unrestricted free agent, available to the highest bidder. The Raptors hold the cards with the other three, though they would have a choice to make should another team make an expensive offer, hoping the Raptors opt not to match. Patterson would be the most likely to receive such an offer.

Retaining Lowry will be the key.

"Kyle has had a phenomenal year. I thought Kyle was a huge, huge key to our season ... Negotiating is easy for me if we want Kyle to be here and Kyle wants to be here," Ujiri said. "Negotiating becomes tough when either party maybe does not want to the player to be here or the player does not want to be here. I think we'll be fair with Kyle and we'll figure it out. And so we'll go through that process, but we're optimistic stuff will happen."

The Raptors have the upper hand in that Lowry has found a home here and because Ujiri and agent Andy Miller have already discussed the future many times during the season.

In the meantime, focus will turn to the NBA draft. The draft combine goes next week in Chicago.

Ujiri started out as a scout and has often talked of his love for scouting. He has made drafting and developing top talents a key part of his mission statement.

"We want to get a talented player that is going to mean something, whether it's now or in the future," Ujiri told the Sun.

"It's going to take development, but this is our time to go out and attack. Be aggressive, see players, go to workouts all the pre-draft camps, study free agency, study what we need to do in our house, in our backyard and grow from there."

The Raptors will draft 20th and own Sacramento's high second-round pick (37) and Okahoma City's second (59) which could be a player slated to be stashed overseas.

Ujiri said he will take the best player available "and then you look at the needs." He named the wing position as the biggest area in need of help, particularly, "a bigger wing" and said a rim-protecting big man also would be ideal.

"We'll look at it generally and see if we can add those types of players," Ujiri said.

DREAM WILL WORK WITH THREE RAPTORS

Jonas Valanciunas won't be the only Raptor spending some time with NBA legend Hakeem Olajuwon.

Raptors head honcho Masai Ujiri told the Sun on Tuesday that all-star DeMar DeRozan and restricted free-agent power forward Patrick Patterson will also work on their low-post games with the two-time Finals MVP.

"Coach Casey only mentioned Jonas, but Patrick Patterson is going too," Ujiri said. "Still a 24-year-old player, can he develop into (a post threat, as well as a good shooter)? And DeMar is going too. DeMar has played well in the post. I'm confident that Hakeem will be able to work with these three guys and we can figure out how they can operate in the low post, too."

Casey said Terrence Ross will spend the off-season working on his strength, so that he can match up better against heavier players and added that Valanciunas should get a huge boost from learning from Olajuwon.

"It's going to help his smoothness, his rhythm. Because that kid, he will work until the sun goes down. But he's gotta get that rhythm, that feel, and that's something that Hakeem, coaching against him, was one of the best in the world, ever, that I've ever coached against, that had the footwork, the rhythm, take what the defence gives him," Casey said. "That's the next step for Jonas, is to be able to do that, because he's got the ability, he's got the skills, but he's just gotta get that feel, that rhythm in the low post offensively."

Ujiri said Valanciunas will be extremely busy this summer. "We've got tons of stuff going on with Jonas. He's going to work with a sprinting coach, with his foot-speed, in Oregon. And he's going to work with Hakeem and he'll go play pickup a little bit in L.A. with a couple of the guys and he'll hopefully make a decision to play for his national team."

Valanciunas will work out in Las Vegas, but not play for Toronto's summer league squad.

Raptors GM Masai Ujiri hopes for continuity with team's roster

He won't give the players blank cheques, but Masai Ujiri would prefer to bring back all of his free agents.

The Raptors president and general manager made that quite clear at the season-wrapping availability on Tuesday at the ACC.

"As far as I'm concerned, keeping our core group going forward, with Kyle Lowry, Greivis Vasquez and (Patrick) Patterson and Nando (de Colo), those guys are priorities for us. And if you want to build, I think, a team where we have young players, we have to build continuity," Ujiri said.

Lowry, the star point guard who has a shot at making the All-NBA third team, is an unrestricted free agent, available to the highest bidder. The Raptors hold the cards with the other three, though they would have a choice to make should another team make an expensive offer, hoping the Raptors opt not to match. Patterson would be the most likely to receive such an offer.